Academia's engineering skills shortage

Although a highly academic subject at university, engineering is an industry that lives off the application and development of new technology, and so perhaps it makes sense to say that engineering should be taught, at least in part, by engineers.

Semta, the engineering skills body,  believes this to be true: it is necessary it says, that engineers with up-to-date experience of industry work in education in order to keep up the flow of new blood; experience enhances students’ learning and this ultimately attracts more into the profession.

But do engineers actually go into teaching? What are the opportunities for experienced engineers to forge mutually beneficial links between industry and academia?

Ann Watson, chief operating officer at Semta, says the industry’s view of the academic world is that it is not healthy, not what is needed; it is ‘stuffy’ and could do with a ‘breath of fresh air’. Indeed, she says that having engineers in the staffroom might be as important as having them in the classroom.